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SPRING RAIN | BAKER COUNTY
A REASON FOR OPTIMISM
Farmers and ranchers in Northeastern Or-
egon started the spring of 2022 with a dis-
mal outlook, plagued by severe drought,
supply chain problems and fuel prices that
were beginning their rise to record highs.
But producers ended the season with
ample reason for optimism.
Rarely has a single season wrought such
dramatic changes on the agriculture
industry, a vital economic engine for every
county in the region.
Wet spring turns ‘disaster’ into a
GREAT YEAR FOR GRASS
The reason is simple: rain.
A signifi cant shift in the weather pattern
that started in early April continued for the
next two months.
Although some areas were considerably
more soggy than others, rainfall was plen-
tiful across Northeastern Oregon.
The moisture eased the drought, especial-
ly in Umatilla and Morrow counties.
At the start of April, every part of both
counties was either in moderate, severe
or extreme drought, according to the U.S.
Drought Monitor.
By the end of June, no part of either coun-
ty was in drought status.
The benefi ts were nearly as widespread
in Union County, where the southern half
remained abnormally dry, one level below
drought.
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
B
The southern half of Grant County was
in the worst shape, with the drought still
extreme. But even there, ranchers were re-
porting bountiful hay harvests and much
better growing conditions than in 2021.
On the opposite side of the ledger, howev-
er, the supply chain issues remain.
Worse yet, fuel prices, which aff ect every
aspect of farming and ranching, continue
to hover near record highs. The associated
hike in the costs of producing crops and
livestock have largely, if not completely,
off set the benefi ts of the benevolent
weather and decent markets for commod-
ities.
Over the following pages we’ll examine
the situation across Northeastern Oregon,
from wheat fi elds of the Columbia Basin to
the cattle ranches of the Blue Mountains.
— Jayson Jacoby,
Baker City Herald editor
Grass in a Baker Valley pasture was about as tall as this calf on July 5, 2022.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
aker County cattle rancher Bert
Siddoway was bracing for what
he described as a “disaster.”
Almost three months later,
he could look across hay mead-
ows and pastures and see grass
growing tall and lush in the
Durkee Valley about 25 miles
southeast of Baker City.
“It looked horrible the fi rst of April,”
Siddoway said on June 27. “There was no
grass.”
But along about the second week of
April, the weather pattern didn’t so much
shift as it reversed.
The stagnant high pressure ridge that
had steered moisture-laden Pacifi c storms
around Oregon gave way to a jet stream
that started to drive those low pressure
systems directly into the state.
See Grass, Page 7